Sir David Attenborough, one of the BBC's longest-serving presenters, has criticised the broadcaster for allowing lifestyle shows to "run rampant".
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Sir David said it was "a scandal" that there was "no place for continuing series of programmes about science or serious music or in-depth interviews".
The presenter was giving a speech about public service broadcasting in London.
He singled out the BBC's long-running science show Tomorrow's World as a "very inventive programme", and said the demise of such strands was "sad".
However, the Life on Earth and Blue Planet presenter paid tribute to the "pioneering" work of the BBC's natural history unit, based in Bristol.
"It is a prime example of what public service broadcasting can achieve," he said.
'Pariahs'
Sir David said a publicly-funded broadcaster should "cater for the broadest possible range of interests" and measure success "not only by its audience size but by the range of its schedule".
At its best, he acknowledged the BBC achieved these aims.
"But I have to say that there are moments when I wonder," he added.
"There are times when both BBC One and BBC Two, intoxicated by the sudden popularity of a programme genre, have allowed that genre to proliferate and run rampant through the schedules, with the result that other kinds of programmes are not placed - simply because of lack of space."
Sir David also addressed Ofcom's recent proposal to share the BBC's licence fee with commercial broadcasters to help pay for public service programmes such as news and children's programmes.
He said the idea had merit, but that regulation would be needed to ensure that such programmes would not be pushed out of peak-time.
"They become the schedule's pariahs, retained under sufferance, tucked away, unloved, where they do least harm to the network's income," he said.
(BBC)
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